Category Archives: Recipes

My friend Julie makes an amazing, to-die-for chocolate chocolate chip bundt cake. It’s DELISH!! Everyone loves it. In fact, my son cried this week when he found out Miss Julie had brought it and he didn’t get a piece.

I do not have Julie’s recipe. Sorry.

What I do have is the recipe I created this week that — even though nothing compares with chocolate — I hoped would not hide too far in the shadow of Julie’s confectionery delight when served side-by-side at a pastoral luncheon.

I know one should never, ever serve un-tested recipes to people outside the immediate family, but I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t make anything that even remotely resembled cake (remember my competition?) and the ingredients I thought I had I didn’t actually have and — Have you ever entered a grocery store the day before a blizzard? It’s not pretty. I chose to make do rather than leave my family bereaved, mourning wife and mother.

So I threw together what I had as best I could, said a prayer and trotted off to church. The result was wonderful! (Even if I do say so myself.) It’s kind of like a cobbler, but tastes more like shortbread atop deliciously baked fruit. Sweet, but not too sweet. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Strawberry-Peach Oatmeal Crumble

• Peaches, sliced then cut into 3/4″ pieces
• Strawberries, quartered

** You need 4 cups of fruit total, but the ratio is up to you. I did about 2:1, peaches to strawberries. Because strawberries usually boil down into a thick jam, you’ll need more peaches to make it chunky or, if you prefer, more strawberries to make it sweeter and smoother. **

• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 c flour
• 1/3 c granulated sugar
• 1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/3 old-fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 375′F.

Combine the peaches, strawberries and brown sugar in a bowl. Stir until the fruit is evenly coated and the sugar begins to form a syrup. Place mixture in a glass baking dish (either 8″ square or a deep pie dish). If you’re using fresh fruit, pour 1/4 c water over the fruit.

(I always use frozen fruit in the winter. It’s frozen when fresh, rather than grown thousands of miles from the wintry North then transported here. If you use frozen fruit, you don’t need to add the water. As the fruit thaws, it will create its own water, thus cooking the fruit and keeping it moist on its own.)

At this point, your dessert should look like this:

In a clean bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Use a fork (or your fingers) to mix until crumbly. Place this mixture in an even layer over the fruit. Bake at 375′F for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is a light golden brown and the fruit appears bubbly underneath.

It should look like this:

Allow to cool slightly (about 5 minutes). Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

You know those seasonal recipe magazines that flood the check-out lanes? If you’ve ever fallen victim to the impulse, you know they’re usually a hit or miss. You may spend $4-6 to get just a handful of decent recipes. One purchase, however, has been the exception to the rule.

I bought the magazine — Holiday Menus from Cuisine at Home — around 2007 and still reference it regularly. Every recipe in it (that I’ve tried) has been tremendous! Including this one. The magazine featured it as a “Christmas Eve” soup, but we enjoy it all winter long.

As always, I have made a couple changes to the original recipe. Instead of using all wild rice (as the recipe called for) I use a combination of brown and wild rices. I use portabellas instead of button mushrooms and add a little extra bacon. Also, I omit the sour cream (my husband abhors sour cream) and use reduced fat instead of whole milk.

Wild rice takes a long time to cook, so be sure you make the necessary allowances. This soup is great the day after, too! Keep your leftovers. They’re worth it.

Winter Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

• 3/4 c dry wild rice blend (or 2 c cooked wild rice)
• 4 strip thick-sliced bacon, diced
• 8 oz. portabella mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 c onion, diced
• 1/4 c carrot, diced
• 1/4 c celery, diced
• 1/4 c flour
• 4 c chicken broth
• 2 c chicken, shredded or diced
• 2 t fresh thyme, minced
• 1/2 c milk
• 1/2 c heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• sliced scallions and toasted almond slivers as garnish

Prepare the rice as directed on the package. If there are no instructions, combine 3/4 c rice with 2 1/2 c water in a small saucepan. Simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the grains are tender and start to split open. (This may be done a day ahead. Chill the cooked rice until ready to use.)

Saute bacon in a large pot over medium-high heat until crisp, 8-10 minutes. Scoop out bacon (leaving drippings in the pan) and drain on paper towel-lined dish. Add mushrooms to drippings and saute over medium-high until soft, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add onion, carrot and celery; cover and sweat until the onion is translucent, about 5 more minutes.

Remove lid and increase heat to medium. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Slowly add chicken broth, making sure to scrap up bits from the bottom of the pot, then add chicken, cooked rice and fresh thyme. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes.

Add milk, cream, reserved bacon, salt and pepper to soup. Gently simmer about 1 minute or until heated through. Garnish each serving with scallions and toasted almonds. ENJOY!

Serves 8 as a first course or 4 as a main dish.

Today I’m sharing a new recipe (as opposed to a family favorite). I tried it just this week, but it went over so well, I’ve already made it twice and have decided to add it to my collection of “keepers.” I adapted this from a Rachel Ray recipe I found online. While her recipes all claim to be 30-minutes, I’ve found that most usually take longer. This one, however, is a true less-than-half-hour job. Super easy, incredibly tasty. I would have a picture for you, but they simply went too fast!

Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms

• 24-30 large stuffing mushrooms
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2-3 ribs celery, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 c fresh baby spinach
• 12 Ritz crackers
• 1/3 c grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 T butter
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400′ F.

Clean mushrooms and remove stems. Chop stems and place in a medium-sized bowl; set aside. Add 1 T oil to large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add mushroom caps; salt and pepper to taste. Cook until slightly browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Place mushrooms in a baking dish; set aside.

Using the same pan, brown the sausage until cooked through; drain. Crumble when cool.

To the bowl of chopped mushroom stems, add the celery, onion, garlic and crackers. Melt the butter in the saute pan, then add the stuffing mixture and crumbled sausage. When onions begin to turn translucent, add the spinach and cheese. Cook until heated through and the spinach begins to wilt.

Fill mushroom caps with stuffing and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 10 minutes. ENJOY!

Kellie, if you’re reading this, STOP NOW and go find another blog to visit.

Anyone else who hates mayonnaise, you may want to follow her.

Typically, I’m in your camp. I can’t stand mayo! Or ketchup, for that matter. There are few other things, too, like Cream of Mushroom soup, but I’ll spare you the whole list. Today’s recipe offends the mayo-haters, but I must post it anyway, and I’ll tell you why.

Friday is my mama’s birthday, and I’m flying out to visit her for the weekend. This is her recipe and one that my family (kids included!) requests throughout the summer. It goes especially well with burgers on the grill. Without further ado …

Mama’s Broccoli Salad

• 2 broccoli crowns, chopped
  (3-4 cups)
• 6 pieces bacon
• ¼ red onion, diced
• 1 c cherry tomatoes, halved
• ¾ c mayonnaise
• ¼ c sugar

Cook the bacon until crispy. Drain and cool, then crumble.

Toss chopped broccoli, onions, crumbled bacon and tomatoes in a bowl. Top with mayo. Add the sugar gradually until it reaches the tangy-ness level you prefer. Mix well.

Note: This salad does not keep well. You can make it ahead and refrigerate up to 6 hours. After that, discard any leftovers.